The cold wind in December in the middle of winter last year gradually dissipated, and the morning sun in early spring began to rise, and everything grew, and the mud outside Jianyang City was also full of young shoots.

The sky and the earth are vast, the fog of the early morning has long since dissipated, and the sun is shining down, illuminating the sky and the earth.

Located in Pingting, more than ten miles east of Nan Juju, on the wilderness, dense Cao Cao soldiers and Liu Bei soldiers lined up in a neat military formation, facing each other.

At the front of the line were naturally spear and shield soldiers, the formation was tight, and various shields such as hook shields, large shields, and round shields were arrayed, and spears were exposed from between the shields, and the tips of the spears shimmered with metallic luster.

Behind the spear and shield soldiers are the knife and axe hands, they are the main force in the war, holding a small round shield with a diameter of about three inches long hardwood wrapped iron sheet in the left hand, and holding the ring head knife in the right hand.

At the same time, there are also crossbowmen in these arms, and once the soldiers have launched a charge, after the two sides are close, they will first shoot two rounds on their backs, and then drop their bows and crossbows, and draw their ring-headed knives at their waists to fight the enemy in hand-to-hand combat.

In the distance, Xun Yu looked at Liu Bei's army formation from afar, observed their formation, and then said to Cao Cao: "Ming Gong, although Liu Bei's main army is only 20,000 horses, I see that its army formation is tight and not easy to shake. And he has Wen Ping and Zhang Xiu on both wings, if he attacks the main force of Liu Bei's army, I am afraid it will not be a good thing. ”

Cao Cao laughed and said, "Gongda's words are very much in line with my heart. I heard that Zhuge Liang's name Wolong, there is a talent that has passed through the heavens and latitudes, and I think it is nothing more than that. The two armies fought, and there was such a big mistake, the Chinese army was as immobile as a mountain, but the two wings were extremely loose, which was just overtaken by our army! ”

Xun You suggested: "The public can send people to contain Liu Bei and Zhang Xiu Ganning, concentrate forces to break the Wenpin Department first, and then attack Liu Bei's right flank from the left flank, so that Liu Bei will be defeated." ”

Cao Cao nodded and said, "Yes, Lone also thinks like this, where is Cao Hong?" ”

"The last general!"

Cao Hong climbed the mountain and dismounted, and came out of the queue to Cao Cao.

Cao Cao said: "You are the general of the Chinese army, leading 20,000 horses and horses to attack Liu Bei!" ”

"Yui!"

Cao Hong was ordered.

Cao Cao said again: "Where is Li Tong?" ”

"The end will be."

Li Tong also came to Cao Cao.

Historically, Li Tong died of illness at the end of the 14th year of Jian'an, but at this time he was still alive and well, and there was no sign that he would die soon.

After all, even before he died of illness, when he went to Nanjun to rescue Cao Ren, he was very heroic, and it is very likely that he was injured and died of illness when he was fighting with Guan Yujun who came to block reinforcements on the way.

Therefore, at this moment, the forty-two-year-old Li Tong is not plagued by any illness, and he is also brave in battle.

Cao Cao said: "Li Tong, I order you to be the general on the right, leading the cavalry and 5,000 soldiers to meet Zhang Xiu and Gan Ning, who are located on the left flank of Liu Bei's army. ”

"Yui."

Li Tong was ordered.

Cao Cao looked at Cao Hong and Li Tong and admonished: "You don't need to fight to the death, it's enough to contain Liu Bei and Zhang Xiu Ganning." I personally lead the army and break the enemy's right flank first! After I broke the paperwork, I will attack Liu Bei's main army when the contract is remitted. ”

"Yes!"

Cao Hong and Li Tong received the order and immediately went to carry it out.

Cao Cao looked at their departing backs, a faint glint in his eyes.

He didn't mention Shen Chen's three thousand Yellow Gate soldiers.

Because it's not worth mentioning.

Don't look at the Three Kingdoms period, there were many special forces that shined, such as the first to the dead, the white horse Yicong, the halberd, the trapped camp, the Wudang Flying Army, the tiger and leopard cavalry, the white Yu soldiers, etc., which shocked the world.

But there are only the first dead soldiers, tiger and leopard riders, and Wudang flying army, which have a great impact on the big war situation.

One defeated Gongsun Zhan at Jieqiao, one followed Cao Cao's raid on Wuhuan to fight the Battle of White Wolf Mountain, and the last covered the retreat of Ma Tan's army after the defeat at Jieting, and repelled Zhang He's attack in the Battle of Nanwei.

The rest of the special forces, although famous, have little impact on the big war situation.

In particular, the White Horse Yicong played a counterproductive role, and the reason why Gongsun Zhan failed in the Battle of Jieqiao was that the first deceased defeated the White Horse Yicong, which led to the rout of the White Horse Yicong and dragged down the main force.

Therefore, the special elite is famous, in fact, their functions are also very limited, like Shen Chen, they led three thousand Huangmen soldiers and raided Cao Cao's rear several times, but it was also because of the emptiness of Cao Cao's rear troops, coupled with the cooperation of Gan Ning, they were barely able to succeed.

In a large-scale corps-level battle, it is almost difficult for these 3,000 Huangmen soldiers to affect the battle situation, and once the general situation is defeated, in the battle of more than 100,000 horses, there will hardly be able to splash any waves.

After giving the military order, Cao Cao went to his left hand, Liu Bei's right hand, and the east in the direction of Wen Pingjun.

Soon Cao's army began to change formations in a regular manner, first splitting thousands of cavalry from the main army, roaring and heading to the west, followed by thousands of foot soldiers following behind and attacking Zhang Xiu.

Cao Hong led the Chinese army and began to press forward against Liu Beijun.

Cao Cao narrowed his eyes and found a small hill on a higher ground near his left flank army formation to prepare for a commanding battle.

Liu Beijun has a big problem with the formation alone.

The left and right wings are too far away, and the head and tail cannot be taken into account, and Wen Ping is good at city defense, taking the initiative to attack is not his strength, and the battle against the enemy is definitely not Cao Cao's opponent.

Therefore, breaking them one by one is the best choice.

This situation will actually make Cao Cao, Xun You and others a little confused.

It stands to reason that Liu Bei now has no shortage of clever strategists, Xu Shu's level they have seen, once in the battle of Yingchuan, one hand eight doors of gold lock formation, Cao Hong fled in embarrassment, almost trapped in the formation.

It is said that Xu Shu highly admired Zhuge Liang and said that Zhuge Liang was a genius in the world.

If Zhuge Liang is really as talented as Xu Shu admires, and is not a mediocre talent, then there should not be such an obvious loophole.

Therefore, Cao Cao and Xun speculated that there were only two possibilities.

First, Zhuge Liang's level is not as high as rumored, but it is just praised.

However, this possibility Cao Cao thinks that it is very small, Liu Bei is the only opponent he recognizes, and he also has the ability to recognize people, how can he not see Zhuge Liang's ability?

Therefore, Cao Cao thought that there was only the second possibility, that is, the current command of Liu Beijun, which they had speculated before, although there were 50,000 troops, they could not achieve unity of command and dispatch, so they showed flaws.

In this way, Cao Cao naturally has a way to win this war.

Seeing this scene in the distance, Zhuge Liang smiled slightly, and said to Liu Bei beside him: "Lord, Cao Cao really saw the flaws in our army and prepared to attack General Wenpin's team first. ”

Liu Bei was a little worried: "We have exposed such obvious flaws, we are afraid that the fake will come true, in case General Wen can't resist it, how can this be good?" ”

Zhuge Liang shook his head and said: "Don't worry, my lord, General Wen has always been good at defense, although he is too far away from our army, resulting in the inability to take care of the beginning and the end, but with his talent, he is fighting alone, and if he wants to resist Cao Cao for a while, there should be no problem, and we will act according to the plan." ”

"Okay."

Liu Bei nodded: "Everything is subject to the arrangement of the military advisor!" ”

"Change formation!"

Zhuge Liang rode on the white rabbit horse and waved the five-color flag in his hand.

Of course, this five-color order flag is not a magic weapon, but comes from the army command props in Jiang Ziya's "Taigong Art of War".

Later, with the development of the times, the command of the Lingqi was gradually eliminated and absorbed by Taoism, but became a magic weapon.

At this moment, Zhuge Liang was holding a black flag in his hand, and as soon as the black flag came out, several soldiers around him held a black flag high and kept shaking it, so that all the generals and soldiers in the rear could see it.

Seeing the black flag fluttering, several leading generals in the rear on the left immediately began to act according to the military order, and five or six thousand soldiers were separated from the left flank of Liu Beijun's army, and slowly spread out.

The Gan Ning Army and the Huangmenting soldiers were originally on the left flank of Liu Bei's army, and at this moment, a large number of soldiers in Liu Bei's rear army stepped forward to make up for it, and the Gan Ning Army and the Huangmenting soldiers were connected together at once.

In the distance, Cao Jun left Xun Yu in the Chinese army to help Cao Hong, Cao Hong saw this scene and asked in wonder: "Military Division, what is this?" ”

Xun You said in a deep voice: "This is Liu Bei's desire to connect the left wing Ganning Department and Zhang Xiu Department, it seems that Zhuge Liang is not an ordinary person, and Wen Ping should not be subordinate to them, and it is difficult to unite the army." So Zhuge Liang also guessed that we would break them one by one, so he did the opposite, wanting to connect his left flank, first break through our army's containment forces, and then rescue Wenpin. ”

"In other words, Zhuge Liang chose the same method as the eldest brother?"

Cao Hong asked.

"Yes."

Xun You nodded.

"So how do you crack it?"

Cao Hong asked again.

Xun You shook his head this time: "If you can't crack it, you can only see who breaks the opponent's right wing first between Ming Gong and Liu Bei, if Ming Gong defeats Wen Ping, he will naturally be able to attack Liu Bei's right wing and support us." If we are defeated by Liu Bei, he can also attack the right flank of the Ming Duke and support Wen Ping. ”

"Okay, then fight to the death!"

Cao Hong heard that the other party's strategy could not be cracked, so he naturally had the courage to shout: "Attack!" Fight to the death! ”

"Fight to the death!"

"Fight to the death!"

"Fight to the death!"

Cao Jun's appearance was neat, his black armor shrouded the earth like a black cloud, and every step he took made a sound of clattering, and the ground was shocked.

In the distance, Zhuge Liang waved the flag again.

In an instant, Liu Beijun's front army also began to move forward, and the army lined up and moved forward step by step.

The main forces of the two sides quickly approached, and the distance between the two sides, which was originally about 500 meters, was almost close to 300 meters.

"The enemy is nearly 200 paces!"

The heralds on both sides who watched the range measurement of the battlefield shouted in hoarse voices.

"The enemy is nearly one hundred and eighty paces!"

"The enemy is nearly one hundred and fifty paces!"

"The enemy is nearly one hundred and twenty paces!"

"The enemy is nearly a hundred paces!"

"Ninety steps!"

"Eighty steps!"

"Archer ready!"

"Shoot the arrows!"

As Zhuge Liang waved the flag again, the herald roared angrily.

Then the blue flag was raised high.

All the archers in the back drew their infantry bows and, in a supine firing position, began to shoot arrows.

Not only Liu Beijun, but also Cao Caojun.

In ancient times, before the start of wars, it was common to have two rounds of arrow rain baptism.

The rain of arrows covered the sky like two clouds, and all the soldiers in the front row raised their shields one after another.

The clanging sound resounded throughout the battlefield, and from time to time there was the wail of the unlucky ones, but most of the arrows were still blocked by shields.

Then as the two sides got closer and closer, and when the distance was less than fifty meters, Zhuge Liang waved the red flag.

The heralds around him also immediately waved the red flag, and the flag watchers in the distance immediately took action.

"Knock knock!"

"Woooooooooooo

The fierce sound of drums and melodious horns suddenly resounded in the sky.

"Kill!"

"After this battle, we can go back to Bashu."

"For the sake of parents, wives and children!"

Liu Beijun burst out with strong morale, and the shield in his hand "banged" with a knife, and rushed towards Cao Jun with an extremely terrifying momentum.

When he first went south from Wancheng, Liu Bei's army had less than 20,000 soldiers and horses, and now it is 50,000, of which two-thirds are captured Dongzhou soldiers.

Although these people voluntarily followed Liu Bei because of his strong personal charm, this does not mean that they do not miss their hometown.

It's just that Liu Bei promised to take them home, and in the middle of last year, Liu Beijun killed Ba County, so that the soldiers could be reunited with their families for a short time.

And with the help of Zhou Lin, most of the soldiers' families were received to Ba County and have settled down.

Therefore, in order to see their families as soon as possible, the soldiers broke out with great enthusiasm, even if they were desperate for their lives, at least Liu Bei promised a generous pension to ensure that the family could live for the rest of their lives.

It was in this situation that Liu Beijun's morale was high and surging.

And Cao Hong's side also issued an order for a general attack, and the two torrents roared together like a tide, and at the same time, Zhuge Liang quickly waved the five-color flag, constantly changing formations, and slowly strangled Cao Jun.

Although Zhuge Liang was not as strong as he was after middle age at this time, he had studied the ancient formation book since he was a child, and when he was in Longzhong, he often deduced the formation with Xu Shu Pangtong, like Xu Shu's Bamen Golden Lock Array, which is a variant of the Bagua Array.

Therefore, he knew the various military formations left from Jiang Ziya's time as early as possible, and after joining Liu Bei's camp, he often fought the actual military formation through training, and the effect was remarkable at this time, such as trapping Cao's army in a quagmire.

After seeing that the two military formations met, Wei Yan, Dong Ju, Kou Feng, Wu Lan and other troops suddenly stabbed out from the left and right sides, and began to divide the battlefield, using the shield array as the base point, strangling the Cao army step by step.

For a time, Cao's army suffered heavy casualties.

Seeing this scene in the distance, Xun You immediately knew that the opponent's army formation was powerful, so he immediately gave Cao Hong a counterattack, and kept sending troops and horses to disrupt Zhuge Liang's formation to relieve the pressure on Cao's army.

The two sides have come and gone, fighting together.

And just when Zhuge Liang and Xun You were fighting, Zhang Xiu and Gan Ning in the distance were also fighting with Li Tongbu.

After Liu Biao's death last year, Jia Xu fled back to Qicheng overnight, and strongly persuaded Zhang Xiu to defect to Liu Bei, and now Cao Cao is coming again, Shen Chen wrote a letter to discipline Zhang Xiu Jia Xu to vote and join Liu Bei's camp.

After all, Zhang Xiu also knew that Cao Cao needed himself in the battle of Guandu, so he was willing to accept it regardless of his previous suspicions, and now Cao Cao is in the north, Zhang Xiu's thousands of cavalry have no use value, so if he goes to Cao Cao again, he will have a dead end, and he can only go to the black and follow Liu Bei.

Li Tong's number was actually not as large as that of Zhang Xiu and Ganning, but he was well versed in Cao Cao's teachings and would never fight a decisive battle with Zhang Xiu, so he adopted a defensive position, forming a circular phalanx with foot soldiers, cavalry protecting both sides, and peripheral spear and shield soldiers standing still, waiting for the enemy to launch an active attack.

This is a typical circular formation in "Sun Bin Art of War: Ten Formations", which can not only defend against the encirclement of the opponent's main infantry, but also defend against the cavalry charging formation, like a turtle shell, and the defense is very good.

It's just that the circle formation gives up the offense and chooses to retreat to defense, which inevitably leads to a lack of understanding of the situation outside the battlefield.

Their cavalry couldn't get out, so naturally they couldn't see that at this moment, a few miles to the west, in the direction of the water, there were tens of thousands of troops, slowly coming!